A Bittersweet Experience
by hippouf
Summary: Ren took some tablets for his cold, turned out the tablets weren't just normal cold tablets. What were the effects and how will it affect his senpai-kohai relationship with Kyoko? Read on to find out! (Hint: I wrote this story after watching Detective Conan)
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SKIP BEAT!**

_Italics are thoughts_

Hope you will like this story! :)

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"Yes yes, Mogami-san. I will make sure to take the meds *_cough*_, so you can go back to shooting now. Don't *_cough* _worry. No, you really don't have to come later. *_cough* _Really, I will see you tomorrow then." *click* It was 11am at night and Ren just got out of a convenience store, holding a box of cold tablets. Usually he would just sleep it off and hope that he gets better miraculously when he wakes up, but Kyoko insisted on having him take his medicine before going to bed.

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"Please just go home for today, Tsuruga-san. You can't even stand straight right now!" Kyoko said as she instinctively put her hand on Ren's forehead and moved her head facing and closer to the sitting Ren, "and your fever is really bad right now!"

"Yes, we can just shoot the parts without you first, Tsuruga-san. Please take care of yourself and we can shoot your part when you are all better," the director agreed.

Yashiro was sent to Osaka by Lory for a meeting with a producer for Ren's future movie opportunity. He had made prior arrangement with Kyoko to watch over Ren since they would be shooting for the same drama. Kyoko would have wanted to send Ren home and make sure he rests, but she couldn't leave the set after the main actor has left. All she could do, was to ensure that he will take a taxi home as he was unfit to drive at that moment.

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_She sure knows how to make one's heart flutters. I hope she won't touch another man so casually. _Ren thought while touching his forehead, hoping that Kyoko's warmth still lingers. He was almost disappointed when she removed her hand from his forehead, almost unable to resist the urge to pull her even closer to him and lay a kiss on her soft lips. _What the heck am I thinking now? Must be the fever. Yeah. The fever…_

_*thud*_ Ren suddenly snapped away from his fantasies when a tea-coloured hair little girl bumped onto him and fell to the ground. She looks around 6 or 7, and she had on her a dirty oversized lab coat, and a pair of eyes too lifeless for a little girl her age.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Are you okay, little girl?" Ren offered her his hand, but he was rejected with a glare from the girl.

"She couldn't be too far away from here! Check everywhere!" Some voices were heard nearby. The girl shuddered, stood up quickly and ran away. Ren stood there dumbfounded by the girl's actions. _Running away from home? Oh well, none of my business. _He thought, when some ferocious looking men in black ran out of an alley where the voice was heard from earlier. _Are they hunting for the girl?_

_*rains*_

_Oh no, I should really head home soon before the rain worsens my fever… Huh? What is this? _Ren picked up a pack of tablets on the ground next to his shoes. _Must have dropped out of the box of my cold tablets when she bumped onto me. _He picked it up nonchalantly, and headed home.

Ren headed to the kitchen right away as he reached home, placed his tablets on the tabletop and proceeded to make his cup of coffee to take with the tablets.

"APTX 4869(S)…. Must be another fancy name for _paracetamol _I guess_,"_ He read the words carved onto the tablets and swallowed it with a sip of coffee.

_Okay, medicine taken. Now sleep._

He headed to his room, turned his lights off and finally lay on his bed.

_*thump* *thump* *thump* _Ren's heart beat so quickly you could almost hear it if you are next to him. He suddenly felt so out of breath, like he is in an emptiness of space deprived of oxygen. He felt like he is swelling internally, and going to burst anytime. One second he felt like his blood was boiling from his body temperature, and the next it is as if his body had used up every unit of his heat energy causing him to freeze.

"Kyo…ko…" He uttered his last words and blacked out.

_*In the morning…_ *

_I.. am still alive? _Ren regained his consciousness. His fever seemed to have subsided, and his coughing seemed to have stopped too. He sat up, wanting to start preparing for a new day, a new day where he can see Kyoko again. _Huh..? Why.. are my clothes so big..? Why are my legs so short? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BODY?_

Panicked, he stood up and rushed to his mirror and petrified at what he saw. _I HAVE TURNED INTO A CHILD?!_

_*Dingdong*_ The doorbell rang.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so so sooooo much to those who have reviewed, favourited or followed this story! And if you do read/watch Detective Conan, I think it is pretty obvious that the tea coloured hair girl is Haibara Ai.

And special thanks to _anon_ who reminded me about the contacts! I have included that part in this chapter. And to answer your question, his hair is still dyed since the tablet only shrinks you back to child, but things you have done to your body - like tattoos and hairdyes, will remain :)

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_*dingdong* _The doorbell rang.

_OH MY GOD! WHO IS IT NOW? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO ANSWER THE DOOR IN THIS STATE OF MINE?_ Ren quickly grabbed a large T-shirt from his wardrobe and changed into it. The T-shirt alone was enough to cover the whole of his small body. Then he ran to the door trying to look through the peephole to find out who it is, but his 6 years old body couldn't reach that high. Frustrated, he grabbed a chair from the kitchen to allow him to barely see the peephole at his eye-level. _Yashiro-san! He is back! But how am I going to let him see me in this?_

He paced back and forth anxiously in front of his door, struggling to decide whether or not he should open the door. On one hand, he needed someone who could help him, anyone at all. On another, he wasn't sure how he could convince Yashiro to believe in such absurd situation.

*_dingdong dingdong dingdong* _The doorbell continued to ring when he was still in a dilemma as to what is the right thing to do. _Arghhhh whatever! I will try to convince him in one way or another!_ Desperate, he opened the door.

Yashiro was dumbfounded by the sight of a little boy who opened the door for him, especially so when the boy looks so much like Ren, just of a different eye colour. After a few seconds of absolute silence, some words finally came out of Yashiro's mouth, "R-R-Ren's secret child?"

Ren was first surprised at his manager's question, and then he let out a sigh, a really deep sigh. "NO! Yashiro-san, obviously no! Listen, this is a really… complicated story. Please come in and I will explain."

Yashiro followed little Ren into his living room, looked around for adult Ren's presence before he seated himself down. "So… Little boy, where is Ren? And… who are you?"

"Yashiro-san," Ren answered, trying to sound as calm as he could in order to convince Yashiro to believe in him. "I am Ren."

"…. Wha-" There was a long pause before Yashiro could respond.

"Wait, let me finish talking. I know this is absolutely ludicrous, and I know it will be really hard for you to trust me, but I am really Ren, Tsuruga Ren. I don't know what exactly happened but when I woke up today, this happened!"

"H-Hahaha, don't joke little boy! Now, where is Ren? I heard from Kyoko-chan that he had a fever and I came to see him."

"I am serious, Yashiro-san! I am Ren! You are my manager, Yashiro Yukihito. We met when I was 17. You have this amazing power where any cellphone touched by you with bare hands will be rendered broken and useless after 10 seconds! You don't know how to drive and you.. you.." Ren tried to think of more things to say, "You always come up with evil plans to make Mogami-san and I together!"

Now Yashiro was half convinced, because the Tsuruga Ren he knows would never really gossip about others with anyone, probably not even someone related to him by blood. So a stranger shouldn't have known much detail about Yashiro. Yashiro continued to ask a few more personal questions that only him and Ren would know, to further convince himself to believe that the little boy in front of him was Ren.

After about half an hour of exchanging questions and answers, Yashiro finally gave in. "Fine. I will believe you now. So.. R-R-Ren? Why is your eye colour different from usual?"

_Crap! I forgot about my contacts. _Ren thought. "Yashiro-san, would you like anything to drink?" He answered with a gentleman smile plastered on his face; behind him was a dark aura that threatened Yashiro not to dwell on the question about his eye colour any further.

"N-No, I am good thank you." Yashiro trembled at the sudden change in attitude. _That fake gentleman smile he uses to avoid a question.. He really is Ren. "_Now Ren, do you remember what exactly happened last night? What could be the reason?"

"I don't know. I… I remember taking the cold medicine I bought from the convenience store, then I went to bed…" Ren replied, trying to recall his memories of last night. "Oh! Then I felt really terrible, as if I was going to die, and blacked out right after that. When I woke up, I am already like this."

"Hmm.. Could it be.. the medicine? Can I have a look at the medicine?"

Ren went to grab the tablets from where he left it last night, and hurriedly headed back to hand the tablets to Yashiro. He had to use his hands to support himself back up the sofa as it was not designed for little kids, nothing in Ren's apartment was designed for kids his current height.

Yashiro couldn't help but snickered at the sight of Ren's cute and clumsy struggle, but he stopped and tried to regain his composure when Ren gave him a deadly glare. "APTX 4869(S)?" He read the label on the row of tablets that had one tablet eaten, and opened the box of tablets that Ren bought. "Why isn't this the same as the ones in the box? Where did you get this from?"

"Huh? Differe-" Ren paused, suddenly remembering about the little girl that bumped onto him from the night before. "Oh god. Why did I not check last night before I take it. Oh my god. This must be it, this must be why. But how am I supposed to find the little girl? Wait, maybe she isn't a little girl either."

"Um.. Ren? Could you explain it in a way that I could understand?"

Ren quickly explained to Yashiro about what happened the night before and suddenly, the doorbell rang again.

_*dingdong*_

Who could it be this time?


	3. Chapter 3

*_dingdong* _The doorbell rang again.

Yashiro and Ren looked at each other, clueless, who could it be this time?

"I will get it." Yashiro stood up and went to answer the door. He looked through the peephole, and his jaw dropped. "R-R-Ren… It's… Kyoko-chan."

Ren froze. _Why? Of all person, why? She is the last person I would like for my current state to be seen! _"D-Don't open the door! Lets just pretend nobody is home!" He whispered.

"Oka-" _Wait. _Yashiro suddenly paused. A light bulb appeared above him and he grinned slyly. At that moment it felt as if devil's horns were growing out of Yashiro's head and it sent chills down Ren's spines.

"Yashiro…san?" Ren asked nervously, and it finally came to his realization what his manager could be planning to do. "Wait, wait! Please tell me you are not thinking about that. Anything but that, please!" He started to panic.

Ren quickly stood up and ran towards the door, hoping he could still make it to the door before his manager opens it, hoping for a miracle. Imagine yourself watching an anime scene being played in slow motion, where an evil character is going to push a button that will destruct the world, and the main character is running towards the evil to stop the destruction from taking place. It was like that between Yashiro and Ren. He extended his hand out to Yashiro while running; "No-o-o-o-o-o!" Ren totally lost his cool. The whole thing about turning into a child totally pushed him over the edge and he couldn't refuse to swallow his pride.

But it was too late. "GOOD MORNING KYOKO-CHAN!" Yashiro greeted the guest with the biggest smile ever.

Kyoko stood there, stunned by Yashiro's overwhelming welcome. His brown eyes that were sparkling in excitement and the entire pink flowery aura around him made Kyoko felt even more intimidated. But she managed to quickly come to her senses and bowed politely, "Good morning Yashiro-san."

"Please come in!" Yashiro gestured her into Ren's apartment like it was his own. _Huh? Where did Ren go?_ He quickly scanned around the living room for Ren's whereabouts but failed to locate him.

_*thud* _The noise of something falling to the ground was heard from the washroom. Yashiro quickly ran to the source of the noise, worried that something could have happened and Kyoko followed right behind. They opened the door to see little Ren sitting on the floor with all the toiletries bottles scattered all around. _Screw this body of mine, I can't even reach my contact lens without causing all this mess. Oh well, at least I managed to put them on before she sees me. _

"Tsuruga-san's… secret child?"

Kyoko's unexpected question was quickly replied with a resounding no. "I AM NOT!" _Why does everyone think I have a secret child! Just what sort of impression do I give them? But it is a little hurtful that she seems fine with me having a child.. _"I am.. I am…"

Kyoko anticipated.

"Relative! He is my relative!" Yashiro quickly interrupted, there is no way he would miss out this opportunity to tease Ren and get them closer together. "He is my grandmother's cousin's husband's sister's child. I brought him here from Osaka yesterday since he wanted to visit Tokyo!"

"O-Oh… I see… Um, Yashiro-san? Where is Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko looked around trying to locate Ren. "Is he not home?"

"Um He.. He just left for some.. well… some meeting!" Yashiro didn't have a precise plan as to what exactly he will say to Kyoko about Ren. He just want them to spend time together, whatever it takes. "That's right Kyoko-chan! I am actually here to collect some stuff for Ren, and I will be busy whoooooole day today. But you see… I can't leave R-R-Ryou-chan alone right? Do you mind taking care of him today? I will pick him up tomorrow!"

"No, I am fine by myself, Yashiro-sa… jiisan!" Ren quickly rejected and gave Yashiro another deadly glare, again emitting his threatening aura. Yashiro hurriedly looked away to avoid those menacing eye contact, though he could still feel the pressure. _It's for your own good, Ren! Stop giving me that look please! _His mind begged.

"I'd love to help! I am actually quite free since my shooting got cancelled for today, I can show him around Tokyo!" Kyoko managed to save Yashiro and brightened up the atmosphere of the room.

"Thank you! See you tomorrow!" Yashiro waved goodbye and dashed out of the apartment like he is running for his life.

_That man! He is always like this! _Ren face palmed himself and said, "K-K-Kyouko-neesan, it is really fine. Don't worry about what he said, alright?" _This is so humiliating, why do I have to address someone I… love… as oneesan?!_

Kyoko walked towards little Ren and leaned towards him, "Ryou-chan, right? Lets have fun today, ok?" She gently patted his head and gave him her signature smile that felt so warm it could melt an iceberg.

"O-Oh…" Ren nodded shyly.

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**Yay a few more followers, favourites and reviewers to this story! Thank you so much! All your comments contribute to my ideas and motivate me to continue *virtual hugs***

**Anyway, to answer some questions:**

**1\. I won't be writing much more about Haibara in this fic! Sorry to disappoint anyone who is looking forward to it! . This was meant to be a 2-3 chapters story and the focal point is Skip Beat, Haibara is just something I felt like including for fun since I love her character. For those who haven't watched Detective Conan, I strongly recommend that you do! You can find out more about Haibara from episode 129, and it's fine to watch the episode alone even if you have never watched any before!**

**2\. Like I said, this was meant to be 2-3 chapters but I ended up writing a little longer than intended... but next chapter will (probably) be the last!**

**3\. And! I would like to apologise in advance as the next chapter might come a little later than expected as I will be busy in the next few days. SORRY!**

**And lastly, I hope you enjoyed reading my story so far! Love you all xx**


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